Newsletter: Essential Politics: Yes, it’s a time for voting

The great thing about politics is that, at some point, there’s always a day of reckoning. Votes are cast, and decisions are made. And this week is a big one for voting — from a local race for Congress to a major decision in Sacramento and ultimately the future of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Good morning. I’m Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and we’re tracking the impact of big votes in several places this week. None, though, are as big as the showdown over the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the nation’s highest court.

GOING BIG FOR GORSUCH

The question in Washington is no longer if the Colorado judge will get his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, but what kind of political fallout ensues when it happens.

Monday’s party-line committee vote to send the Gorsuch nomination to the Senate floor was not a surprise. For hours, senators laid out their cases either for or against the nominee of President Trump.

California’s senior senator, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, made it clear that she will join her more liberal colleagues in voting “no” once the floor vote finally comes. Feinstein will also join the expected filibuster of the Gorsuch nomination.

And now, even as a group of senators work feverishly behind the scenes, there may not be much to do but wait until Senate Republicans squash the filibuster by changing the chamber’s rules. That could happen tomorrow. Lisa Mascaro takes a look at the history of the filibuster and how it may change once the so-called “nuclear option” is used.

SACRAMENTO’S TRANSPORTATION HEAD COUNT

Things are much less certain for Gov. Jerry Brown in his quest to get enough legislators to vote this week for a $52-billion transportation funding plan. The governor and Democratic legislative leaders are scheduled to hold a news conference on the plan later this morning.

And make no mistake, this isn’t a challenge based on party as much as it is on political philosophy. While Democrats hold enough seats in both the state Assembly and Senate to pass the transportation plan’s tax hikes on their own, there’s a palpable uneasiness about the vote for some Democratic legislators. At least a handful from rural areas may be wary of opposition that developed on Monday from the agriculture industry.

Meanwhile, Brown continued his road trip for road repairs by heading to Riverside on Tuesday where his message was simple.

“Don’t blow it guys,” the governor said in warning lawmakers not to hold out in supporting a series of road and highway fixes that he argued could be doubly expensive if not dealt with soon.

CONGRESSIONAL RUNOFF IN L.A. ON JUNE 6

In the weeks to come, political pundits will no doubt debate what effect the bumper crop of candidates in Tuesday’s special congressional election in Los Angeles had in keeping anyone from winning the job outright on election night.

But as the sun rises in California, the unofficial vote tally finds that two Democrats -- state Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez and former L.A. city planning commissioner Robert Lee Ahn -- will move to a runoff on June 6 to fill the House seat left vacant by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra.

The two men led a field of 24 candidates in what looks to be a low turnout election. And while many of the candidates argued the the race was a harbinger of change in the Democratic Party, it appears to have hinged on the more traditional politics of name identification and registering new voters.

ABOUT THAT TAX DEDUCTION, CALIFORNIA …

For California, it’s the $101-billion question: Will Congress eliminate a major tax break that benefits residents of the state more than anywhere else in the country?

A plan by House Republicans calls for axing the federal deduction for state and local taxes. The provision allowed Californians to reduce their taxable income in 2014 by an amount that was … get this ... one-fifth of the total value of the entire nationwide deduction, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

EPA’S TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT?

These are tough times, it seems, to be an employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For thousands of scientists and investigators, the siege mentality is taking its toll, reports Evan Halper.

Some are urging them to tough it out.

“I try to tell people that staying and doing your job at this point in history is an act of resistance, that if they leave, we will wind up with gaps in the system,” said Jared Blumenfeld, who formerly ran the EPA regional office encompassing many of the western states.

NUNES STILL TOPS IN TULARE

While we’ve seen some evidence that the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s maxim that “all politics is local” no longer applies in all cases, it seems to be alive and well in the Central Valley city of Tulare.

And that’s good news for Rep. Devin Nunes. Cathleen Decker spent some time with Nunes’ long-time friends and allies and finds a very different reaction to recent events in Washington that have thrust the hometown boy into the national spotlight.

Her profile offers a fascinating glimpse at what’s driven Nunes from his time as a young boy, and how locals are sure he’s still holding true to those beliefs.

SANCTUARY STATE CLEARS BIG HURDLE

The effort by Democrats in the state Capitol to expand so-called “sanctuary” provisions to communities across California is now in the lap of the Assembly.

The bill by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) passed the upper house on Monday after a long and intense floor debate.

De León was later asked whether he thought the president would retaliate in some way against California.

“We hope not,” he said. “He is the president of the greatest country in the world. It is not about retribution. It is about bringing the country together.”

TRUMP AND THE ‘UNHEALTHY’ RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRESS

New polling by the Pew Research Center suggests that Americans don’t like what they’re seeing, regardless of party affiliation, age, income or almost any other demographic marker.

A full 83% of American adults agreed that “the relationship between Trump and the news media is generally unhealthy.” Another large majority, 73%, said that tension is “getting in the way of Americans’ access to important news.”

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- Can Trump break the diplomatic ice in this week’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping? His advisors hope so.

-- Frustrated as they head home for spring break, Republican lawmakers have begun talking with the White House on possible new ways to repeal and replace Obamacare.

-- State legislators are working on a proposal that would keep the gas storage facility at Aliso Canyon closed until a study is completed on the leak that forced thousands to flee their homes.

-- Trump signed legislation Monday night that repeals the Federal Communications Commission’s privacy protections for Internet users, rolling back a landmark policy from the Obama era.

-- Civil rights groups sounded the alarm Tuesday at the Justice Department’s decision to review agreements with local police forces to address problems of racial profiling, discrimination and excessive use of force.

-- California’s Democratic candidates for governor on Tuesday called for public safety policies that make sense.

-- California members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus say they’re worried that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly isn’t taking their concerns about immigration enforcement seriously.

-- Actress Sharon Stone released a spoken-word video in support of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

LOGISTICS

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john.myers@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter at @johnmyers and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast